jetskis are my next toy purchase, you and i shall discuss!
I intentionally owned 2 older machines - a Polaris Virage and a Yamaha GP1200.
The Virage was a 3 up couch-on-water that was perfect for my wife to learn on, quiet, super stable, 3 seater (so could legally tow things), and would run all weekend on a tank of gas.
The GP1200 was pretty much the polar opposite of that...noisy (but a sweet 3 cylinder burble), abrasive at times (it could be a handful), drank fuel at an insane rate, not particularly stable as it was designed to go like stink, not be stable or beginner friendly.....but fun as **** to ride.
Both were carbureted (what I wanted, I like simple....minimal electronics), 2 stroke (but oil injected, didn't need mix) and were reliable. Had to rebuild the top end of the GP1200 at one point as I had an oil injection line fall off, but that's another story - did it in the garage. My own fault for not checking the things often enough.
I bought the Polaris and a blown up SeaDoo (XP, they were known for blowing up) as well as basically a brand new dual trailer on eBay from a guy in Michigan for $2400USD. Brought them home, sold the XP for $950 as is (they have a following and guys want the hulls I discovered) so even after the trip to Michigan, the taxes etc etc I had a brand new dual trailer and a perfect running Polaris for basically $2K. Bought the GP1200 from a guy in Bowmanville.
I would own both of those old machines again in a hearbeat.
Only reason I sold them is that we got back into 2 wheels again and the skis were just sitting. Rode them for a few hundred hours each over our period of ownership and still ended up *making* money on the deal when I sold them.
